Panthers vs. Saints: Preview, score prediction for Week 13
Carolina Panthers vs New Orleans Saints
On Sunday, the Carolina Panthers will travel to the Superdome to take on the New Orleans Saints. With both teams sitting at 8-3, it’s going to be a fight for the NFC South title and after a promising start could spell disaster for the Saints.
Going into this week’s game, there’s a lot of hype and for good reasons. Both teams have been excellent for the past few weeks and are poised for playoff berths. While it originally seemed like the Saints would be a shoo-in, injuries have plagued them. Meanwhile, the Panthers have started their own hot streak after poor defensive play and Newton’s bad decision-making.
Keys to Victory
Carolina Panthers: In their first meeting with the Saints, Cam Newton struggled. He can’t make the same mistakes this time. The Saints defense picked him off 3 times and only allowed one rushing touchdown, relegating the team to field goals. In this meeting, Newton needs to get his head in the game and not try to force throws unless he wants as many turnovers as last time.
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Meanwhile, the Panthers defense needs to stifle the run. The Saints run game has been phenomenal with the tag-team of Ingram and Kamara. If they can stifle Kamara, Ingram or both, then that’s a huge disadvantage for the Saints. In the past few games, it has been tough so the Panthers will need to work extremely hard.
New Orleans Saints: The biggest issue the Saints have encountered is injuries. They have yet to find suitable replacements on defense so it’s time to regroup. The Saints defense is one of the most talented units in the league and they need to start playing like it. Last week against the Rams, they were missing their starting corners and it showed. This week, they need to make sure they’re covering receivers and not giving up on plays.
Offensively, Drew Brees needs to get a little sharper on decision-making. Brees seems to have blinders sometimes and only sees a few receivers. He needs to start getting the ball out quick and focusing less on certain guys. It didn’t fool the Rams last week and it won’t fool the Panthers so he needs to make sure his eyes are all over the field.
Prediction
This game is going to be huge for the NFC South so both teams will be playing even harder and tougher than normal. New Orleans has only lost a little bit of momentum, but I still seem them as a contender. As for the Panthers, they’re on the upswing so it’s a little unpredictable at this point so it’s a pretty even match.
Next: New Orleans Saints: 3 Bold predictions vs. Panthers in Week 13
Mostly, it will depend on if the New Orleans defense can overcome injuries. Even so, I still see the Saints keeping it a close game, but ultimately being victorious. After such a dominant game against the Panthers last time, a few injuries shouldn’t keep them down for long.
Final Score: Carolina Panthers: 27, New Orleans Saints: 31